Review of Home School In The Woods U.S. Elections Lap-Pak

I have been so excited to share with you today's review product, HISTORY Through the Ages Hands-on History Lap-Pak: U.S. Elections, from Home School in the Woods.   With the U.S. Elections in full swing, I knew it would be a wonderful opportunity for our entire family to learn more on just how elections work in our country.  I am still in total shock that I will have a child who is old enough to vote in this election!!


This Hands-on History Lap-Pak is recommended for grades 3-8 so I chose to let my 7th grade daughter who loves hands on activities and anything to do with art work through this project.  We received the digital version which we were able to download with no problems.  We received the files for 21 lapbook projects, printable booklets in 2 different formats, photos of all the projects, and 2 audio files in mp3 format to listen to as we read along in the booklet.  All of those files came in a zip file where I extracted them once I received them.  The file that I thought was so unique was a file labeled "Start".  When you clicked on that file, you were taken directly to all the files that were included with one simple press!
During each of the 21 lessons, we followed along in the booklet using the PDF copy as we listened to the audio.  I did not see the need to print out the booklet for us but could see how it would be a great option to include it with your finished lapbook.  

We worked on 3 lessons per week and I usually printed out the sheets needed for the 3 projects during my Saturday planning time.  You will definitely need a little time for teacher preparation in order to have the projects ready to complete.  The instructions give you complete direction in what supplies you would need such as white paper, white card stock, colored card stock, colored paper, brads, etc.  

It also includes detailed instructions on assembly along with photos of each completed project.  I loved how simple and easy the directions were to follow.  Sarah followed along with the instructions and photos mainly by herself.  I was there in case she needed me but she could really complete this project independently once I gave her the printed sheets and few extra supplies.  

Since we worked on 3 lessons per week, we are not completely through yet but we went ahead and assembled what we did have so you could see the process.  Again, you are given detailed instructions as well as pictures to walk you through the lapbook assembly process and we found them very easy to follow.  They also suggested adding the projects to the lapbook with double sided tape.  We didn't have any so we made do with what we had.

(I'll update the finished project overview once we complete it.)
Also after we complete the final few lessons, Sarah is going to present her finished work to the entire family.  That way we can sneak in a little review for my older sons as well!  We loved everything about this project.  You could easily do it all with white paper and have your child add their own color or you can mix and match like we did.  The instructions also suggest different colors of paper.  I learned a great deal about the election process myself including the meaning of stump speaking.  I was not familiar with that term at all!  I think an older child or adult could also benefit from reading the booklet as well.  Just of few of the topics covered are the branches of government, terms of office, media coverage, primaries and caucuses, electoral college and many more.
HISTORY Through the Ages Hands-on History Lap-Pak: U.S. Elections is currently available as a download version for $18.95 or as a CD version for $19.95.
You can find out more of what Home School in the Woods has to offer by visiting them on Facebook, Google+, Pinterest, or Twitter.

Review of Drawing Around the World:USA

There are so many fabulous homeschool curriculum products on the market today that it is hard to decide which to choose and many you may not have even heard of. That is the case for me with today's product. I had never heard of Brookdale House publishing company before signing up to review one of their products. The company was birthed to meet the need of the primary author's family. She could not find anything that contained copywork, narration, and dictation to teach elementary writing so she created her own! The company now offers many homeschool products including elementary writing, elementary Spanish, Geography, Bible memorization, and so much more!

The product I chose to review is from the The Geography Drawing Series called Drawing Around the World: USA. It is available in a printed book for $25.95 or ebook format for $22.95. We reviewed the ebook format which I think is perfect if you plan to use it with multiple children. Since we were already studying the United States and memorizing capitals as well, I thought this would be the perfect companion to complement our current curriculum.



The course is extremely simple to implement and has been a fun addition for my daughter who loves to draw!  I really think it has helped her to memorize more about the states we are learning as well. We were studying the states in order of statehood and we were on state 30 already before picking up this course.  It has served as a great review for some of the states we've already learned about.  This course teaches states starting with the top of the east coast then going south and working throughout the midwest and west- perfect when you are learning to draw the states and seeing how they connect.
There is a suggested weekly schedule to follow and that is how we approached the course. The schedule included daily tasks for different states and took less than 15 minutes to complete each day. There was also an option and instructions on how to add in timed drills to your schedule. We did not include this as the child I was working with stresses out with any sort of timed activity but I did try it out with my 9th grader who already has all the states and capitals mastered. He is also my competitive child so the drills were right up his alley!

The course is set up to complete in 27 weeks and covers anywhere from 1-4 states per week with the majority being 1 state per week.

Day 1: Students are introduced to the new state/states and complete the State Fact Table sheet. They suggest a couple of websites where you find the facts needed to complete the sheets and we also had some of the information on our previous state study sheets. Students will locate and label each new state onto the dashed, black and white map and draw all states studied so far.

Day 2 & Day 3: Students repeat the process of locating and labeling each new state onto the dashed, black and white map and drawing the states from memory. This is pretty easy at first but as states continue to be added, it becomes more difficult so the daily practice and repetition really helps!  I allowed Sarah to look back at the map if she became stuck at any point but most of the time she did great from memory!

Day 4: Students list the states studied so far from memory and use a blank text box to draw all of the states they have learned so far from memory.

The process is so simple but works so efficiently in helping students memorize the states and capitals plus Washington, DC. I am so glad to have been introduced to this curriculum and would highly recommend it if you are studying the USA. There is also a Drawing Around the World: Europe edition.

Find out more on Brookdale House by visiting Twitter , Facebook, Pinterest, and Google+.

Click the banner below to see what my fellow crew thought about this and other products available from Brookdale House.

Review of With Lee In Virginia Audio Adventure

Our family was first introduced to Heirloom Audio Productions last September when we had the opportunity to review Under Drake's Flag and again in February when they produced In Freedom's Cause. This time around they have captured one of America's most historical moments of Civil War times With Lee in Virginia.

We received the two CD set with over 2 1/2 hours of audio adventure adapted from G.A. Henty's Book, With Lee In Virginia and a downloadable study guide. The first CD contains 12 tracks and the second has 14 tracks. The study guide gives you discussion questions to aid in the comprehension of the lessons learned. It also has thinking deeper questions and vocabulary words as well.

If you are thinking audio book here, this is nothing to me like an audio book which can sometimes be very dry and boring. This is definitely an audio adventure and you can tell in the character's voices just how much passion they present through their characters. Watch this fun video to see a short excerpt of the cast in action. I want to know how I can sign up to be a cast member because it looks like so much fun!

In this historical fiction audio adventure, you will follow along with 15 year old, Vincent Wingfield, as he joins the cavalry and fights along side Stonewall Jackson and Robert E. Lee. He watches their dedication to God and grows up before your eyes as he struggles with his own beliefs especially those regarding slavery.


We cannot say enough about these and the other audio adventures from Heirloom Audio Productions! They absolutely bring history to life and have you sitting on the edge of your seat to see what will happen next. The advanced sound effects place you right back in history and make you feel like you are riding right on the back of a horse fighting along. 

Canons blasting, gunshots blazing, battle cries, horse neighs, and prayers of some of the strongest men in battle are heard all throughout With Lee in Virginia. Victories, defeats, friendship, character, love, strength, duty to country, and devotion to God are just some of the many characteristics found in the characters of With Lee in Virginia. Heirloom Audio Productions takes great care in immersing their reader in the story.

Here is a lineup of some of the all star cast involved in making this historical audio adventure come to life!

We usually listen to the audio stories during our school time, but for the summer we were able to take the adventures on the road with us. My mom had double bypass surgery so we spent a week driving back and forth with an hour and a half drive each way. What a blessing this was to be able to hear and enjoy during such a scary time in our life. It also gave us a new perspective on the Civil War and what an ending! I'll have to leave you hanging on that one. 

 
There are several sets available for you to purchase and you can see those here. This adventure is recommended for ages 6 and up. Some of the additional options available include a MP3 download, ebook, printable poster with Lee's famous quote (see below), and more.

From the words of Robert E. Lee in a letter to his son, "Do your duty in all things. You cannot do more, you should never wish to do less."

That sums up the overall theme of With Lee in Virginia.

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Review of We the People: Getting to Know Your Constitution

As my children grow, I am facing the reality that our school time together is drawing to close. Each one of my children have always loved hands on learning and always wanted to continue that no matter their age. There is often a stigma that hands on learning can't happen during middle and high school years and often that is hard to do with the curriculum available today with most being designed with the elementary grades in mind. If your children love hands on learning and unit studies, then you will definitely want to check out today's review product.

Homeschool Legacy has designed a variety of unit studies to aid families who have this same desire as our family. We had the opportunity to try the digital version of We the People: Getting to Know Your Constitution.

We the People: Getting to Know Your Constitution is a Biblically centered curriculum designed as a once a week unit study for grades 4-12.  There is no preparation that needs to be done ahead of time as you are provided with a supply list, daily schedule, and list of library books including the call numbers.

This unit study will take you through 8 weeks of exploring documents and policies of our Founding Fathers and government. Topics covered include the Constitution, our Bill of Rights, the three branches of government, the voting process, the amendments, and our national symbols.
Subjects tackled in this unit study:

• Bible including memorization 
• History including timeline 
• Current Events/Social Studies 
• Geography 
• Art including Art Appreciation 
• Language Arts including research, writing, and vocabulary, independent reading, and read alouds 
• Music 
• Life Skills 
• Drama 
• Also included are many ideas for games including printable sheets to help you make them, documentary suggestions, YouTube links, field trip ideas including virtual field trip ideas with links, and recommended family movies. 

As you can see, this can totally be used as a comprehensive curriculum for history. You can also just use it as an addition to your current curriculum. I always love that flexibility in a homeschool curriculum!

Another bonus - if your children are a part of Boy Scouts or American Heritage Girls, they will also be able to earn several of their badge requirements which are clearly marked for you during the lessons.

How We Use This In Our Homeschool

Each year, we try to focus on a history cycle so for us this year's focus was American History. For this school year, we have tried a new 4 days of regular school approach with 1 day off - Fridays. We call this day Fun Fridays and would save any projects or science experiments for Fridays. Well, that's pretty much how We the People: Getting to Know Your Constitution is set up too! So, we decided to incorporate this unit study on our Fun Fridays. I have had a difficult time coming up with activities to bring our studies together on Fridays so this unit study was the perfect cure for that. The suggested read alouds and literature were added to our daily activities as the schedule suggested. There was no work for me except making sure the necessary supplies and books were in place. All three of my children did this study together - grades 6th, 8th, and 11th and none of them complained about any age or grade inappropriateness but all of my children really enjoy hands on activities. I know some students do not but mine beg for more.

There are so many fun activities included in this unit study and our family had a wonderful time of learning together! I really enjoyed having the digital version because it made it so simple for me to print out what I needed for our family. It also made it so simple just to click the links provided and be taken to the correct page immediately. 

I've included just a few of our favorites below.

Visiting the library and bringing home lots of books for our weekly topic.  All of the books were not necessary to bring home and often I substituted with a different book on the same topic.  I loved the fact that call numbers were included because that made it extremely easy to substitute a book when necessary.  Having different levels of books to read throughout the week helped us to look forward to Friday even more.

Starting our time off in God's Word.

Playing the Preamble Scramble

Taking the naturalization test and seeing how we scored.

Studying the voting process

Hands on activities bring learning to life for our family and help the pages of a history book feel more real. I've found that often as my children have grown older, each child would be in a different room doing their own studies. While I certainly want them to gain some independence in their studies, I still find that learning together provides us with a great balance. We the People: Getting to Know Your Constitution is a great way to bring families back to learning together. There is even part of the curriculum that includes Dad called, Stump Your Dad Trivia, and the suggested field trip ideas can be saved for a time when Dad is off too. We are planning a summer field trip by train to Washington, D.C. and now we are even more excited to tour our Nation's Capitol. Since we are all learning together, it makes it so much easier to discuss topics together as well.

Homeschool Legacy has many unit studies you can choose from including Weather On The Move, Horsing Around, Native America, and many more.

You can find out more about these unit studies by visiting there website, Facebook, Pinterest, or Twitter. Click the banner below to find out what my fellow crew mates thought.

Review of Jim Hodges Productions Audio Books

Since reaching the middle school and high school years, we have relied more and more on audiobooks in our homeschool. Jim Hodges Productions has produced many audiobooks. We were sent In the Heart of the Rockies to review. It is recommended for ages 10 and up.

In the Heart of the Rockies is available in a MP3 CD format or an instant downloadable format. The CD will play in a computer CD drive, DVD player, or any MP3 compatible CD player.  Please note that the files will not play in a standard CD player.

The MP3 CD version costs $25 and the digital download costs $18. We received the MP3 CD and listened to it on my laptop. It lasts for 10 hours and 53 minutes and is broken down into 19 chapters on average of 35 minutes each. You can purchase these and other audio books online at Jim Hodges Productions or by sending a check.  

In the Heart of the Rockies is by G.A. Henty and set during the early American history time period of the 1860's. We were introduced to Henty earlier this year and have fell in love with his novels. He accurately portrays history with the remarkable skills of a storyteller. We used the free version from Gutenberg to follow along as Jim Hodges read to us the story of Tom Wade. The book is not necessary but it aids my oldest son who is currently a 10th grader to really comprehend what he is hearing. He is receiving both the visual and auditory learning that he needs. My 6th and 8th graders listened in as well.  

In the Heart of the Rockies takes you on the adventures of Tom Wade as he leaves his England home a boy at the age 16 and joins his Uncle Harry in Denver, Colorado to help mine for gold so that he could help his sisters earn money for their family finances. Both of his parents had already passed away and they left behind Tom and his four sisters.  He felt leaving for America was his best option to help take care of his sisters.  His Uncle had previously sent a letter to his mother (before she died) telling her of his good fortune and letting her know that he could put Tom to work easily and "make a man out of him."  After many toils and troubles some of which include frigid temperatures and Native American warriors, he finds the fortune in which he set out to find.  As the story draws to an end and Tom returns to England two and a half years later, he has turned into a man just as his Uncle Harry had promised.  The story is full of vivid vocabulary that help you visualize the surroundings of Tom and the Colorado Rockies.

Also available for purchase is a study guide.  The study guide cost an additional $12 but in our opinion is well worth the extra cost.  The guide covers two chapters at a time and has a place to discuss vocabulary, history and comprehension questions, and an activity section.  There are also three quizzes included. It includes all the answers to each question and quiz at the end.  Some of the activities include research, geography, Venn diagrams, charts, experiments, character traits and more making it really simple to make each of these novels into a complete unit study.  We used the study guide together as a family and pick and chose what activities we found most interesting.

Click the banner below to find out what my crew mates thought of some of the other audio books available from Jim Hodges Productions. You can also find Jim Hodges Productions on Facebook.